It has been said by some that the doctrine of objective justification
is too hard to understand. It has been said that it makes what the scriptures
present so simply, complicated. But I would contend that objective
justification attempts to do justice to everything that the scriptures say
without diminishing the value of either the sacrifice of Christ or Holy Spirit
worked faith. To demonstrate this point there follows a brief outline of the
order of salvation with emphasis specifically upon the issues under discussion.
The passages that are cited were chosen because they are commonly used among
us. They are not to be considered the only passages which address a point but
they are considered by the author to be among the best to display that a given
point is found in the Bible.
I want to begin with God’s
intent. There will be no debate among us that God desires that everyone be
saved. In the passage below it tells us clearly that God sent Jesus into the
world to save the world. That was the purpose of his coming. By the world we
understand all people of all time. Jesus did not come only to save believers.
If we state that Jesus’ intent and goal in coming or God’s intent in sending
him, was to save only believers, we would fall into the error of John Calvin. He
placed the blame for the condemnation of the unbeliever squarely on God’s
shoulders. He answered the question: “why do some go to heaven and others not?”
by saying that those who are lost are lost because God didn’t want to save
them. He chose them to go to hell before the creation of the world. Therefore
Christ didn’t come to save all people, he came only to save believers. But this
stands in direct conflict with the passage below and others in the scriptures.
John 3 16 “For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned
already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
The Bible tells us that God’s
intent was to save the world. It also tells us that he followed through on that
intent. God sent Jesus to save the world. So Jesus is the Savior of all people.
He saved all people by dying on the cross. When it is said that Jesus saved all
people it is meant that he affected a rescue for all people at the cross. His
death on the cross is the atoning sacrifice for sins. What is an atoning
sacrifice? A sacrifice of atonement was offered to make people clean. That is
what God tells his people in Leviticus 16:30 “because on this day atonement
will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from
all your sins”. In our confirmation classes we often use a play on words to
explain what it means to atone. We tell the children that atone mean to make
“at-one”. The cleansing of sin removes the barrier that stands between people
and God. Sin is a barrier that separates people from God. We attribute this to
God’s perfection and justice. God expects all people to be perfect as he is
perfect. There isn’t a single person apart from Jesus who lives up to God’s
expectation. Nor is any person, apart from Christ, by their own strength
capable of doing everything necessary to win God’s favor and a place in heaven.
Therefore God must step in to save people. This is what he did in Christ. Jesus
offered himself as the sacrifice of atonement. He made payment for the sins of
all people believers and unbelievers alike.
1 Timothy 4:9 This is a
trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10 (and for this we labor and
strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all
men, and especially of those who believe.
I John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not
sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our
defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our
sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
There are other words in the
Bible that have the concept of payment associated with them. Redeem, which
means to buy back or to pay a ransom. Jesus’ final words on the cross “it is
finished” are a single word in the Greek language. That word has been found
written on the bottom of ancient invoices to indicate that the balance had been
paid. When payment is made something is received in return. The payment that
Jesus made was his blood which he poured out while hanging on the cross. That
payment was made to God. That payment purchased all people believers and
unbelievers alike. That the payment was of sufficient value cannot be debated.
On the cross was offered the God-man Jesus Christ. This payment was of
sufficient value to pay for an infinite number of people, for an infinite
number of sins. Thus we can say that Jesus bought all people. Even those who
deny him were bought and are owned by God. People have no role in any of this.
God’s ownership is not dependant on a person’s faith or any other factor. God
owns a person because he paid for them at the cross.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were
also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers
among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the
sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
There is another way to think
about what happened at the cross. Not only did Christ make a payment but he
also suffered the consequences for our sin. We know this because while he was
hanging on the cross Jesus experienced separation from God, which prompted him
to say “my God my God why have you forsaken me!” Additionally Jesus also
suffered the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death. Jesus should not have
died. As a perfect human being he could have lived for all eternity in harmony
with God. But because he took the sins of all people on himself, he was subject
to the penalty of those sins, so Jesus died. When Jesus died he suffered the punishment
that those sins deserved. The death Jesus experienced was both physical and
spiritual death. So it can be said that Jesus endured hell while he was on the
cross. Jesus was punished, enduring death for every sin of every person. So
when Jesus died the sinner died. The wages of their sin had been paid to Jesus
and he endured the consequences.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For
Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and
therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no
longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
The sentence for sin is death.
Jesus endured that sentence for the sins of the world. By his death Jesus
satisfied God’s perfect justice. The wages of sin had been paid upon Christ. We
know God was satisfied because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning. With
justice satisfied and having purchased all people there is nothing standing
between a person and God other than their own unbelief. In this way God reconciled
all people to himself. Reconcile means to restore friendly relations. This
reconciliation was achieved at the cross. But why does the Bible then speak of
God’s anger over sin? The Bible contains two messages, Law and Gospel. The Law
only proclaims God’s anger over sin. Though fulfilled by Christ the Law
continues to proclaim its message of anger and destruction. The message of the
Law cannot change. It will continue to condemn all sinners till the end of
time. But the message of the law doesn’t negate the message
of the gospel. If it did then we would all be going to hell. Instead we believe
that God was reconciled to sinners at the cross.
Colossians 1:19 For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile
to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making
peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Romans 5:6 You see, at just
the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone
might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him
through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we
be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The Gospel is the good news. It
tells us everything that God has done. God gave us the Gospel so that we would
know what Jesus did for us. It gives to us the promises that God makes to
sinners.
John 20: 31 But these are
written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
by believing you may have life in his name.
The Gospel shares what God has
done for sinners. It also calls those same sinners to believe its message. The
Gospel tells people that Jesus died for their sins. It tells them that Jesus
paid the penalty for them. The Gospel tells them that Jesus satisfied God’s
perfect justice on the cross. The Gospel tells them that God is reconciled to sinners.
The Gospel tells sinners all these things. We share the Gospel message with
people in the hope that they will believe what Jesus has done for them. We hope
that they will trust in the promises that God has made to them in his word. We
hope that they will believe that what God says to them in the Bible is true.
John 3 16 “For God so loved
the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.
But we also recognize that no
one can come to believe God’s promises on their own. All people come into this
world as enemies of God. They are hostile to him and they reject his promises.
On their own a person is unable to change their attitude toward God and his
word. Therefore the Holy Spirit works through the message of the Gospel,
contained in the means of grace, to change the heart of a person. Conversion
then is solely the work of God through the means of grace, which are the gospel
in word and sacrament. A person is converted when, by the Holy Spirit, they
believe or trust, in God, in God’s promises, in Jesus, and in Jesus’ work as
outlined above. This is commonly described as “believing” or “having faith”.
Those who have faith receive what God promises. They become the beneficiaries
of the victory that Jesus won for all by his perfect life and death on the
cross. This is referred to as subjective justification. Subjective
justification means that what Jesus did for all people he also did for the
individual. Therefore we acknowledge and affirm that we are justified by faith.
Titus 3: 4 But when the
kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of
righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the
washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the
hope of eternal life.
Those who believe have the hope
of eternal life. Jesus certainly made payment for every sin. He suffered death
on behalf of every person. Through the cross God is reconciled to sinners. But
heaven is for those who are heirs by faith in Christ.
1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new
birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in
heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the
coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Some might say it is
inconsistent that God would do everything for sinners and then turn some away.
But it is God who has set up the requirement of faith, and his decisions are
not subject to our logic. That being said God does give us the reason in the
Bible for why those who do not believe go to hell. God makes it very clear in
the Bible that those who go to hell go there because of their own choice. They
shoulder all the blame for their own destruction. God did everything for them.
He did not treat anyone differently. God gave everyone the same chance under
the cross. But there will be many, we are told, who will not accept God’s help.
They will refuse to admit that they need help. They will say that the promises
God makes aren’t true. They will even deny that God exists at all. In short,
there will be many who will call God a liar. In so doing they make the decision
to stand before God without Jesus. God calls people to believe in him. He pleads
with them to leave their sinful ways behind them. He exhorts people to listen
to the gospel. He encourages them to believe his promises. But he does not
force them. We believe and teach that people come to faith only by the power of
God without any cooperation on their part. But we also believe and teach that
each person has the power and authority to reject the gift of God and be lost.
God has made it possible for every sinner to be in heaven. Jesus fulfilled the
requirements for everyone. The ultimate question then becomes does the sinner
believe it? Those who believe go to heaven for all eternity. Those who do not
believe refuse Jesus’ help and stand before God on their own merits and receive
the sentence their merits deserve, an eternity in hell.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were
also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers
among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the
sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
1 John 5: 10 Anyone who
believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not
believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the
testimony God has given about his Son.
It is the hope that this
presentation will serve to show that objective and subjective justification are
based upon and flow from the Bible. This distinction in the concept of
justification helps the Lutheran church avoid the pitfalls that come with
trying to answer the question “why do some go to heaven and others not?” We
avoid the danger of limiting the work of Christ only to those who believe, by
proclaiming an objective justification. We then avoid the opposite extreme of
universalism by proclaiming a subjective justification. Every other approach
seems inadequate or insufficient.
Soli Deo Gloria
